30/10/2023 - The Catalan director's debut feature film wins top prize at the 68th edition of the event, while Alice Rohrwacher wins the Silver Spike with La chimera

The Permanent Picture [+see also:
film review
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interview: Laura Ferrés
film profile], a co-production between France and Spain by feature newcomer Laura Ferrés (who triumphed at the 2017 Cannes Critics' Week and won the Goya for her short film Los deshederados), has won the Golden Spike at the 68th Seminci - Valladolid International Film Week, which concluded last Saturday 28 October, led for the first time by José Luis Cienfuegos.

“We have chosen a film that is imbued with captivating themes, is deeply reflective, lyrical, and remarkably captures the very essence of humanity", according to the International Jury (made up of Spanish filmmaker Meritxell Colell, British producer Mike Goodridge, Indian director Pan Nalin, director of Caimán magazine Jara Yáñez and Argentinian director, producer and teacher Iván Granovsky). The jury also awarded the Silver Spike to Alice Rohrwacher's fourth feature film La quimera [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] as it "evokes magical feelings while pushing the limits of the art form of cinema, through a gaze that enchantingly perceives both life and death, human beings and also spirits, often dissolving the boundary between reality and fantasy".

The German Angela Schanelec won the Ribera del Duero award for Best Director for her film Music [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]. The jury, which also recognised the austere beauty of Ivan Marković's shots with the award for Best Cinematography, praised "his unique gaze and the way he approaches stories like a composer who plays at hiding the emotion inside his images to let it burst out in the most moving and beautiful way". And from a veteran to another newcomer, British Molly Manning Walker, who arrived in Valladolid after her triumph in the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes, now wins the Pilar Miró award for Best New Director for How to Have Sex [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Molly Manning Walker
film profile].

In the acting category, Léa Seydoux was named Best Actress for The Beast [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Bertrand Bonello
film profile], by Bertrand Bonello, while Dave Turner was recognised as Best Actor for The Old Oak [+see also:
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trailer
film profile], the audience's favourite film by Ken Loach, who decided to award their prize to an old festival acquaintance. The Italian master Marco Bellocchio won the Miguel Delibes Award for Best Screenplay for Kidnapped [+see also:
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trailer
film profile]; and the José Salcedo Award for Best Editing went to the German Gesa Jäger for her work on The Teachers' Lounge [+see also:
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trailer
interview: İlker Çatak
interview: Leonie Benesch
film profile], by İlker Çatak, nominated for the next LUX Audience Award.

The International Critics' Prize (FIPRESCI) has applauded Spanish director Víctor Iriarte's fiction debut with Foremost by Night [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Víctor Iriarte
film profile], which tackles the trauma of stolen babies. The Golden Spike for Short Film went to Wander to Wonder, a detailed stop motion piece by one of the great promises of European animation, Nina Gantz. And Marina Alberti, granddaughter of the poet Rafael Alberti and the writer María Teresa León, won the Silver Spike for Aitana, a tribute to her mother, whose name gives the short film its title.

Finally, it is worth noting that part of the audience present, both at the reading of the morning list of winners and at the closing gala in the evening, showed their dissatisfaction with the prizes awarded for best director and best film with the famous, dreaded and characteristic protest from the audience at this veteran festival.

The list of winners:

Official Feature Film Section

Golden Spike
The Permanent Image [+see also:
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interview: Laura Ferrés
film profile] – Laura Ferrés (Spain/France)

Silver Spike
La quimera [+see also:
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trailer
film profile] - Alice Rohrwacher (Italy/France/Switzerland)

Ribera del Duero Award for Best Director
Angela Schanelec - Music [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (Germany/France/Serbia)

Pilar Miró Award for Best New Director
How to Have Sex [+see also:
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trailer
interview: Molly Manning Walker
film profile] - Molly Manning Walker (United Kingdom/Greece/Belgium)

Best Male Performance
Dave Turne - The Old Oak [+see also:
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trailer
film profile] (United Kingdom/France/Belgium)

Best Female Performance
Léa Seydoux - The Beast [+see also:
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trailer
interview: Bertrand Bonello
film profile] (France/Canada)

Miguel Delibes Award for Best Screenplay
Marco Bellocchio, Susanna Nicchiarelli - Kidnapping [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (Italy/Germany/France)

Best Cinematography
Ivan Marković - Music 

José Salcedo Award for Best Editing
Gesa Jäger – The Teachers' Lounge [+see also:
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trailer
interview: İlker Çatak
interview: Leonie Benesch
film profile] (Germany)

Official Short Film Section

Golden Spike for Best Short Film
Wander to Wonder - Nina Gantz (Netherlands/Belgium/France/United Kingdom)

Silver Spike
Aitana – Marina Alberti (Spain)

Short Film Nominated for the European Film Awards 2024
Ardent Other - Alice Brygo (France)

Meeting Point Section

Best Feature Film Award
Gasoline Rainbow - Bill Ross IV, Turner Ross (United States)

Special Jury Prize
Arthur & Diana [+see also:
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interview: Sara Summa
film profile] - Sara Summa (Germany)

Special Mention
Animal [+see also:
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trailer
interview: Sofia Exarchou
film profile] - Sofia Exarchou (Greece/Austria/Romania)

Award for Best Foreign Short Film
Nocturnal Burger - Reema Maya (India/United States)

Foreign Short Film Mention
Heartbreak Hotel - Emma Axelroud Bernard, Toujours Panthère (France)

La Noche del Corto Español Award
Meteoro – Víctor Moreno (Spain)

Time of History Section

First Prize
Between Revolutions [+see also:
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trailer
interview: Vlad Petri
film profile] - Vlad Petri (Romania/Croatia/Qatar/Iran)

Second Prize
Retratos fantasmas - Kleber Mendonça Filho (Brazil)

Best Short Film
Ours - Morgane Frund (Switzerland)

Alchemies Section

Alchemies Award
Femme [+see also:
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interview: Sam H Freeman, Ng Choon Ping
film profile] - Sam H. Freeman, Ng Choon Ping (United Kingdom)

DOC. Section Spain

Best Film
Zinzindurrukarratz - Oskar Alegria (Spain)

Other Awards

Audience Award Official Section
The Old Oak – Ken Loach

Audience Award Meeting Point Section
Muyeres – Marta Lallana (Spain)

Audience Award Time of History Section
The Mother of All Lies - Asmae El Moudir (Morocco/Saudi Arabia/Qatar/Egypt)

Young Seminci Award
The Movie Teller [+see also:
trailer
interview: Lone Scherfig
film profile] - Lone Scherfig (Spain/France/Chile)

Young Jury Prize in the Official Section
How to Have Sex - Molly Manning Walker

Young Jury Prize in the Meeting Point Section
One Last Evening [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Lukas Nathrath
film profile] - Lukas Nathrath (Germany)
Special Mention
Hello Dankness - Soda Jerk (Australia)

Rainbow Spike Award
All of Us Strangers [+see also:
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trailer
film profile] – Andrew Haigh (United Kingdom/United States)
Special Mention
On the Go [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: María Gisèle Royo, Julia de…
film profile] - María Gisèle Royo, Julia De Castro (Spain)

Green Spike
Muyeres – Marta Lallana
Special Mention
Trenc D´Alba - Anna Llargués (Spain)

FIPRESCI Award
Foremost by Night [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Víctor Iriarte
film profile] – Víctor Iriarte (Spain/Portugal/France)

Fundos Award
A batalha da rua Maria Antônia - Vera Egito (Brazil)

Castilla y León Short Films Award
El rey de la semana – David Pérez Sañudo (Spain)

(Translated from Spanish by Vicky York)